Foundations for Innovation

In our desire to make science education have an impact even in high school, Kristi, Niki and I along with our department, have taken a look at what students would need to make the transition from content to application.  A solid foundation in science was the biggest need.  As our school is also an International Baccalaureate school, where our middle years program (9th and 10th grade) see a semester of Earth Science, Biology, Physics and Chemistry and then choose which of our diploma years (11th and 12th grade) courses to "specialize" in, we had a working, proven model for our idea.  Having all of our students take a semester of each of the four sciences gives them that foundation we were looking for.  Now, we know that you cannot call a semester of any science complete, but it gives students a solid base to build on. 

This format allows students in their 11th and 12th grade years to decide where to go in the sciences.  We have Forensics which has a very heavy emphasis on biology, especially genetics, while allowing science to intersect as they pursue how science and detective work align, Analytical Chemistry which gives students both a stepping stone to AP Chemistry, and allows them to have a much stronger focus on lab techniques and write-up skills, we offer environmental science as either a traditional or AP class, two levels of AP Physics, Astronomy, Anatomy and Physiology; and a course called Practical Science and Engineering which is a project-based course running the gamut of creating ropes to building bridges or programming robots on a course.  Our belief is that because students have had a "taste" of each science, they can pursue additional courses that build on something they enjoyed.

We have experienced the normal trials of a new program, with mid-semester adjustments, as well as restructuring between one semester to the next to address issues, concerns, or ideas we have.  This is the normal process all teachers go through, but we have the added benefit of a change occurring within a couple of months rather than the next year.  Although it may appear that a semester of science does not allow standards to be met, we have worked hard in choosing our topics to ensure that we have met the Colorado State Standards in each of our courses.  Biology meets all standards but genetics which are covered in the Forensics course.  Earth Science is completed by our Astronomy semester long course.  Both Physics and Chemistry combine to cover the Physical Science standards, and the additional courses supplement and support them.  In this manner, we are able to not only address each standard, but build upon them to do more than a cursory overview.

Students who have no interest in a particular science were able to learn the important fundamentals, gain skills in solving problems and terminology, and then move on to the next science which might be of more interest.  The feedback we have from the learners has been positive so far.  We are looking forward to seeing how this new system allows our students to transition from rote-learning to application and problem-based learning.  This encourages them to focus and build on their scientific interests rather than force them into a year-long class that may be outside of their interest.  This ability of the student to concentrate on his or her interest is the underlying framework that will allow us to bring change to our current system and innovation into the classroom.